The Boston Celtics are the reigning NBA champions, but the Orlando Magic are playing with no deference whatsoever. 

The Magic pulled off a stunning 95-93 win in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first round series to pull within a game, 2-1. 

Franz Wagner led the way for Orlando with an impressive all-around performance–32 points, three three-pointers, seven rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. He scored the first five and last four points of the night for the Magic as he set the tone early on and made sure that they would take home the victory. 

The 6’10 forward has taken a major leap this season, bumping up his scoring average from 19.7 points per game last year to a career-high 24.2. Though his three-point shooting has taken a dip since his rookie year, his ever-improving ability to get to the basket has helped him emerge as one of the league’s top young scorers.

His fellow young star Paolo Banchero had a strong performance as well with 29 points, two three-pointers, six rebounds, an assist, and two steals. These two carried the fight for Orlando for most of the night, accounting for 64% of the team’s total points in Game 3. 

Despite playing against Boston’s dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown—arguably the best one-two punch in the league today—the Magic’s Wagner and Banchero were unfazed and went toe-to-toe with their more experienced rivals. 

If Wagner and Banchero did not miss so many games due to injury, these two would have definitely been in the conversation for the league’s end of season awards with the way that they have been playing. 

Orlando would have definitely had a better record as well, avoiding the play-in and the Celtics altogether. Nonetheless, one has to play the opponent in front of them, and if this young Magic team is going to go down, they are going to go down swinging.

The future is bright for this team with Wagner still only 23 years old and Banchero 22. Last year, they took the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round and this season, they have this character building match-up with Boston. If they can pull off an upset here, it would be a monumental one that would fast forward their tractor.

There’s something special brewing in Orlando and it will be interesting to see how far this young core can go with Wagner and Banchero leading the way.